The array substrate comprises a plurality of wirings. Due to restricted area of the array substrate, different wirings carrying different signals are located in different horizontal planes of the substrate, generally in a staggered manner. In order to guarantee insulation between two wirings which are arranged in a staggered manner, a first insulating layer is provided therebetween. It is discovered that, however, during the manufacturing process of the array substrate, electrostatic charges would accumulate in the first wiring and the second wiring. When the electrostatic charges accumulate to a certain extent, Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) would occur at a crossed-over part of the two wirings. Since the temperature of the place where ESD occurs is rather high, the two wirings would connect with each other, resulting in short circuit phenomenon. Consequently, the array substrate would be destroyed.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in order to facilitate the understanding, a wiring located below a first insulating layer 3 is defined as a first wiring 1, and a wiring located above the first insulating layer 3 is defined as a second wiring 2. Since the temperature of the place where ESD occurs is rather high, the second wiring 2 and a portion of the first insulating layer 3, which is located between the second wiring 2 and the first wiring 1, would be melted. In this case, the second wiring 2 would drop partially to touch the first wiring 1, which would lead to short circuit phenomenon. Under such circumstances, the whole array substrate would be destroyed. Therefore, the manufacturing difficulty and manufacturing cost of the array substrate are relatively high.
The ESD phenomenon cannot be prevented and avoided in the prior art. In order to guarantee that the wiring suffering the ESD phenomenon can be used as usual, and thus the array substrate can be further manufactured even if the ESD phenomenon occurs, the following measure can be taken. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the crossed-over part of the second wiring 2, i.e., the place where the second wiring 2 crosses over the first wiring 1, is generally separated into a plurality of branches 4, with an interspace formed between every two adjacent branches 4. As shown in FIG. 5, when the ESD phenomenon occurs to one of the branches 4, the two ends of said branch 4 can be cut off, and the performances of other branches 4 would not be affected. Therefore, the array substrate can be further manufactured as usual.
It is discovered that, the probability of occurrence of the ESD phenomenon of a branch 4 is the same as that of each of other branches 4 at the same place during manufacturing of the array substrate. That is, the ESD phenomenon may occur to any of the branches 4, or even to several branches 4 at the same time. It is obvious that, as shown in FIG. 6, if the number of branches 4 to which the ESD phenomenon occurs is relatively large, and the two ends of the branches 4 to which the ESD phenomenon occurs are cut off, the number of residual branches 4 which are still available is relatively small. In this case, the resistance of the second wiring 2 would become over high, and the follow-up manufacturing procedure of the array substrate would be affected. Under such circumstances, the array substrate cannot be further manufactured, and thus the qualified rate and manufacturing cost of the array substrate cannot be guaranteed effectively.